Job applicant alleges bias by US

Library pulled its offer amid gender change

PURSUING DISCRIMINATION CASE Choking back tears, Diane Schroer said, "Every day, I wish the phone rang and they said, "We made a mistake.' "

WASHINGTON - Diane Schroer, a 52-year-old former Army special forces commander, testified Tuesday in federal court that she was "disappointed and dismayed" when an official at the Library of Congress rescinded a job offer even though she was the star candidate.

The offer, for a job as a terrorism research analyst, was pulled the day after Schroer told her future boss that she was making the medical transition from being a man, David, to being a woman, Diane.

"I honestly felt a little surprised and shocked," Schroer testified during the first day of trial in her discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress. Choking back tears, Schroer added that, "Every day, I wish the phone rang and they said, 'We made a mistake.' "

Schroer, who has completed the medical process of becoming a woman, is pursuing a sex discrimination case against the Library of Congress under the Civil Rights Act. The bench trial before US District Judge James Robertson is expected to last about a week. A ruling may not come until well after.

Schroer, of Alexandria, Va., had a prestigious military career that ended in retirement in 2004 after seven years in the Army's Special Forces command. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Schroer became director of a 120-member classified organization that tracked and targeted international terrorists.

She routinely briefed the country's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney.

In court Tuesday, Schroer testified that she had interviewed for the job at the Library of Congress's Congressional Research Service under the name of David. After being offered the job in December 2004, Schroer went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant with Charlotte Preece, the woman she thought would be her future supervisor.

During lunch, Schroer told Preece that she was undergoing the medical transition to become a woman. She also showed Preece photographs of what she looked like dressed as a woman to allay any concerns Preece might have had about her workplace attire.

The lunch seemed to go well - until they were headed out and Preece told Schroer that "you have given me a lot to think about," the retired Army colonel testified.

Preece's tone, Schroer testified, "was ominous."

The next day, Preece called to tell Schroer that "after a long and sleepless night, I have determined you are not a good fit and not what we want," Schroer testified.

Schroer is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed suit in 2005. She is seeking the job offer that was rescinded and damages that are legally capped at $300,000, said one of her lawyers, Arthur Spitzer.